Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Fences and Contradictions - An Illustration and a Parable

Some who oppose the idea of paradox in the Bible do so for very good reasons. Many want to affirm that Scripture is free from contradiction. Some want to maintain philosophical foundations that uphold the validity of logic. Others want to emphasize the sufficiency of Scripture. Some simply desire to avoid any appearance of irrationality or confusion.

Ironically, THEOparadox shares each of these viewpoints and holds them as essential.

1. Scripture is free from actual contradiction.

2. Logic is valid.

3. The Bible is entirely sufficient.

4. Irrationality and confusion are not desirable.

However, there is a vast difference between actual contradiction and apparent contradiction. The validity of logic does not rule out supra-logic. The sufficiency of Scripture does not turn it into a propositional Rubik's Cube. And a rational view of reality does not mean we can understand everything.

THEOparadox does not affirm that there are explicit contradictions in the Scriptures and in orthodox Christian theology. Rather, based on a firm commitment to inerrancy and Biblical balance, it affirms that there are implied contradictions. A paradox is formed whenever two or more true statements appear, through implication, to contradict one another. This situation can arise whenever some information is not available. The following example serves to illustrate this point.

THE ILLUSTRATION

APPARENT CONTRADICTION #1

P1 The fence was built to keep things out

P2 The fence was built to keep things in

Two stubborn, logically consistent people could argue about these apparently contradictory propositions for a long time before realizing that both are true. The purpose of a fence is to keep some things out and to keep other things in. At this point one would be wise to affirm both propositions, for they do not actually contradict one another. Perhaps one could quibble over which is the more prominent purpose, but there's no contradiction here. There is only an apparent contradiction because "out" seems to be opposed to "in."

APPARENT CONTRADICTION #2

P1 The fence was built to keep animals in

P2 The fence was built to keep animals out

On the surface, this is self-contradictory. But the types of animals haven't yet been articulated. The fence was actually built to keep certain types of animals in (e.g., sheep), and certain types of animals out (e.g., goats).

That's simple and logical enough, but this may blow your mind . . .

APPARENT CONTRADICTION #3

P1 The fence was built to keep sheep in the pen

P2 The fence was built to keep the same sheep out of the same pen

APPARENT CONTRADICTION #4

P1 The fence was built to keep sheep in the pen

P2 The fence was built to keep goats in the same pen

P3 Goats and sheep are always separated by the fence

All of the statements are entirely true. What hasn't been discussed up to this point is the chronology involved. Each morning the sheep are led out to pasture through the south gate, while the goats are led into the pen by the north gate. Each afternoon, the animals go back to their original places again. Although these paradoxes always apply to the sheep and the goats, they do not apply to other animals, such as lions. The fence is only meant to keep lions out.Thus, we have worked through four apparent contradictions in a perfectly logical, coherent fashion, and have demonstrated conclusively that there is no actual contradiction in this scenario. But, without the help of some necessary details, there isapparent contradiction that cannot be avoided. In every case, the issue was not actual contradiction but missing information.

THE PARABLE

Imagine, if you will, that the farm on which our fence was built is private. It is located on a secluded island and carefully kept from public view. It is the only farm of its kind in the entire world. It was built from unique materials that have never been used anywhere else, and it utilizes farming techniques that are generally unknown to the world of agriculture. The farm is operated by a brilliant farmer with an IQ of 400. He writes a book to explain some things about his farm to the rest of the world. In the book, he mentions several times that the fence was built to keep animals in. However, in other parts of the book he says that the fence was built to keep animals out. The farmer never discusses the daily pasturing of the sheep and the goats. He never mentions the north and south gates. He never details the inner workings of his farm because that is not His purpose.

As a result, some skeptics point to the farmer's book and say "this is contradictory! Surely the farm doesn't exist. He says his fence is built to keep animals in, then he says his fence is built to keep animals out. It's obviously just a fairy tale." Meanwhile, the skeptics munch on some carrots that were grown in the farmer's garden.

Some agricultural students study the farmer's book very carefully. They diagram all of the sentences in the book, carefully noting the parts about keeping animals in. They build a fence around themselves and develop an elaborate theory to prove that the word "out" really means "in" when used in the farmer's context. Some of them throw rocks at people on the other side of the fence who say "out" and "in" are two opposite things that seem contradictory to rational people. They call these people irrational heretics and misologists.

A group of gardening enthusiasts who have met the farmer declare that he is brilliant. They use the farmer's book to develop vibrant gardens full of vegetable and livestock. They build fences carefully, leaving room for dual purposes. They defy the skeptics who claim the farmer's book is contradictory, and the agricultural experts who explain away the paradoxical aspects. These disciples readily acknowledge that the farmer's intelligence exceeds their own, noting that some of his ways are too hidden to examine, and they strive to follow his instructions even when the unrevealed information leaves them perplexed.

Can you see how paradoxes arise from mysteries? Unless one posits that human beings have access to all of the information, paradoxes cannot be ruled out. Even if all of the information was available to us, would we find the logic and rationality required to systematize and categorize it accurately? Only the omniscient God has enough knowledge and wisdom to put all of the pieces together, but the things He has revealed to us in His Word are fully sufficient for our needs, absolutely reliable, totally trustworthy and perfectly tailored to our greatest benefit and blessing. His words are not illogical or irrational, but they are sometimes supra-logical and beyond the rational limits of our human minds. He is good in what He graciously reveals to us, and He is good in what He withholds. He is always and only good, and He builds His fences in all the right places.

Deuteronomy 29:29The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law.

I told one who favors Cheung, "It is out of a driving conviction that Scripture does NOT contradict itself that I pushed myself to look for the THEOparadox "third rail" in issues, which upholds the seemingly opposed implications.

Ah, the elusive 3rd rail. It's very hard to find, and it can sometimes be dangerous. Edwards found a third rail and it was a blessing, but some have built bad 3rd rails that only electrocuted and killed good theology.

The cross is the ultimate 3rd rail, connecting God's justice and love together. Someone died to build it - yet it gives us life (thank God for the paradox in that).

I'll talk more about 3rd rails someday, but my next development of the paradox concept will probably explore the "senseless creation of mutually exclusive categories" (i.e. that different "senses" explain, or at least make room for, seeming contradictions, and a denial of these senses is a "senseless" thing - it's a play on words of course). Or I might write about the fact that paradoxes, like mysteries, arise from information gaps. Generally we think they are information overlaps, but they're not. They're gaps. There will have to be a 3rd rail to connect those statements together.

Feel free to respond to anything written in the posts, or to the comments left by others. All comments are reviewed before they are published.

Please be charitable. If you disagree, do so with grace. Keep your words positive, focused, and on-topic. We don't expect everyone to agree, but we do expect everyone to treat everyone else with respect and grace, speaking the truth in love.

About the THEOparadox Team

Derek Ashton,Founder:I know enough about myself to be completely amazed that God loves me. His grace toward me has been abundant and overwhelming. I thank Him that I've been married to my beautiful bride since 1996. I have the privilege of raising two wonderful children who are gifts from God. (Read my testimony here).

Emeritus Team Members:Tony Hayling:Learn more about Tony at his site, Agonizomai.

THEOparadox MISSION Statement:

~To honor God by upholding the authority, inerrancy and sufficiency of His Word, the Bible.~To help students of the Word to interpret Biblical paradoxes in a way that faithfully reflects God's heart.~To ignite a devotional flame that will help believers to warm up their theology and burn up their pride.~To encourage Christian faith by resolving or explaining apparent contradictions in the Scriptures.~To explore the nature and extent of paradoxes in historically orthodox, Reformed, Biblical theology.

~To provide Biblical resources for those who desire to know God and His Word better.

~To glorify the Lord Jesus Christ, the Friend of sinners and the Savior of the lost.

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Rules

Feel free to respond to anything written in the posts, or to the comments left by others.

Please be charitable. If you disagree, do so with grace. Keep your words positive, focused, and on-topic. We don't expect everyone to agree, but we do expect everyone to treat everyone else with respect and grace, speaking the truth in love.

Thanks!Mgmt.

Followers

"Heresy is born whenever the Church fails to pray a tension."

"Hyper-Calvinism and Arminianism both result from the same problem: A tension-deficient disorder."

"Human beings are incredibly good over-compensators."

What is a PARADOX?

A tenet or proposition contrary to received opinion, or seemingly absurd, yet true in fact.

Noah Webster, American Dictionary of the English Language, 1828 Edition

"... it is synonymous with apparent contradiction. A 'paradox' thus amounts to a set of claims which taken in conjunction appear to be logically inconsistent. Note that according to this definition, paradoxicality does not entail logical inconsistency per se, but merely the appearance of logical inconsistency."

James Anderson, Paradox in Christian Theology

Wise Words ...

"The juxtaposition of words and ideas that don't usually go together make the real point stand out for us more clearly. And some truths in the Christian life are best expressed as oxymorons - paradoxical language."

~Phil Johnson

Wise Words . . .

"By advocating paradox I don't want to give the impression that I'm giving a carte blanche to not think philosophically, to not think deeply, about these doctrines. Quite the opposite. . . . My position is that with each of these doctrines we reflect on them as hard as we can, we penetrate them as best we can based on the Scriptural data that we do have, but we also recognize that there are going to be limits, and that those limits are actually a positive thing and not a reflection of some inherent problem in the doctrines or in the process of theological reflection. . . . I think we can make progress, we can make

considerable progress, in understanding these doctrines and resolving some of the . . . initial difficulties that we have with them, but at the same time recognizing that we're always only going to get so far and when we bump up against the limits of our capacity to formulate them in certain ways or to resolve certain difficulties in them, we

shouldn't be too concerned about that. We certainly shouldn't say, 'Okay, we need to admit that Christians are ultimately irrationalists.' No. We don't need to say that at all. . . . It's a Biblically constrained rationality. It's a middle way between rationalism, of which I think [Gordon H.] Clark was a representative, and irrationalism, of which, to take an example I think the Neo-Orthodox - Karl Barth - would be an example, where you're saying that there are actual contradictions in there. So I think it's navigating a Biblical middle way between these two extremes: having too high a view of the human intellect, and perhaps too low a view of the intellect, of our ability to know the things

of God."

~Dr. James Anderson

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The Gospel

God lovingly sacrificed His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, for a depraved and law-breaking humanity's only way to be saved from His just wrath, and through His death and resurrection graciously sanctified and secured forever all those who believe on Him - for their ultimate good and His eternal glory.

The following quotation was found in a recent post on a popular Arminian blog . It is by James Arminius, the founder of Arminianism, and pur...

Theological Paradoxes

Below I have listed some of the classic theological paradoxes (and a few interesting ironies, too) . . .

~The Trinity- God is One being revealed in three distinct persons (Father, Son, Holy Spirit)~God is transcendent(separate from His creation) yet immanent(in His creation)~Omnipresence- God is always present everywhere, yet He sometimes speaks of Himself as "present" in a special way~The Incarnation- God became a man~The Virgin Birth - A Jewish virgin gave birth to the Son of God~The Two Natures of Christ - Jesus is fully (100%) God and fully (100%) man

~The Atonement is sufficient to save every person, but efficient only for those who believe~God is completely sovereign (in control of everything, everywhere, all the time) yet He is not the author of sin and he uses human choice to accomplish His purposes~Inspiration of Scripture - The Bible was written by sinful human beings yet it is the inerrant and flawless Word of God~Divine Revelation - Sinful man cannot comprehend God, yet God reveals Himself to sinful man~Sanctification- Christians are sinners by nature, but saints by grace~Suffering- God brings His joy and comfort into our lives through our experiences of pain, disappointment and suffering

There are many others. Paradox is everywhere when we attempt to understand God's ways in a genuinely Biblical way.

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The Apostles' Creed

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord

Who was conceived of the Holy Spirit,Born of the virgin Mary,Suffered under Pontius Pilate,Was Crucified, dead and buried

He descended into Hades;The third day He rose again from the dead;He ascended into heaven,and sits on the right hand of God the Father Almighty

From thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.I believe in the Holy Spirit,The holy catholic (i.e., universal) Church,The communion of saints;the forgiveness of sins;the resurrection of the body;and the life everlasting. Amen